Kelty is great! We met with his PCM on Monday and had blood work done again ... his white blood cell count is back within normal range! What a relief! Thanks everyone for your support and well wishes. Kelty's ear infection was apparently quite a sight ... the doc asked if I wanted to see it but I opted out since Kelty was not a fan of the check-up. The doc said it looked like his ear drum ruptured from the pressure and build-up of the ear infection .... I really hope ear infections will not be a common occurrence, however I have a gut feeling that is not going to be the case.
As we expected, Kelty was fearful of the doctor and medical clinic ... he started to whimper and cry as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. We'll just have to work through it the best we can ... I found a doctors kit at the toy store and it will join his gifts under the Christmas tree.
Thanks again everyone for your love and support!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Not The Post I Was Expecting
This was supposed to be our post about our trip to Spain ... that will have to wait ... Kelty was admitted to the hospital on Friday.
Kelty had his 2-year appointment on Wednesday and had a perfect check-up. On Thursday afternoon I received a call from his school; Kelty had woken up from his nap screaming and with a fever of 103. I immediately picked him up, gave him a dose of Tylenol and brought him home. He was pretty pooped the rest of the day and fell asleep at 6:30pm ... still with a fever. It was a pretty rough night; I slept on the floor next to his bed ... we rotated between rocking in his chair and sleeping restlessly in his bed. He continued to run a fever throughout the night and kept touching his head and neck when I asked him what hurt. I called the clinic when they opened and was able to get Kelty in to see the doc Friday morning.
He was running a fever of 102.3 when we checked-in ... with no other symptoms ... not a sniffle, not a cough, not a sneeze, nothing but a fever and something hurting in his head/neck. As usual Kelty screamed during his check-up with the doctor and as a result started having a snotty nose. The doctor continued to question "other symptoms" ... I insisted he had no other symptoms. He questioned the runny nose and I told him it was a because he was crying. He seemed skeptical and told me if that was the case then he would have to run a full work-up on Kelty ... otherwise he just has a cold. I insisted that he had no other symptoms and we proceeded with a morning/early afternoon of unpleasant procedures for Kelty ... and for mommy.
We had to collect a clean urine sample and unfortunately it had to be done via catheter ... following the catheter was blood work. I spent the morning/afternoon holding Kelty down for these procedures ... it was horrible and made me sick to my stomach to see Kelty put through this.
We headed back to the clinic waiting room where Kelty stayed curled up in my lap, lethargic and still with a fever. After 1-hour the doc came to get us and apologized for the wait ... the lab had to re-run the blood sample 3 times because the results showed a white blood cell count of 33,000; the norm is 5,000 - 15,000. The doc told me "I was right" ... there is some sort of infection and it's not a cold. With Kelty's lethargic behavior, pain in the head/neck and the high white blood cell count of 33,000 ... the doc was speculating that it could be meningitis. He gave Kelty a shot of Rocephin (a really strong antibiotic) and made arrangements for us to head over to Landshtul Regional Medical Center for a lumbar puncture.
As I was leaving the clinic parking lot, Al called ... his flight was canceled due to weather and he was on his way to the clinic. He drove up as I was pulling out ... perfect timing. We carpooled over the the hospital and I filled him in on the days events.
After arriving at the hospital the doc decided to hold off on the lumbar puncture ... it's a very painful procedure and since Kelty was acting a little feisty with the medical staff he wasn't certain it was meningitis ... he speculated that if it were meningitis he would be too lethargic to "fight back". He admitted Kelty to the pediatric unit for monitoring with a diagnosis of a "fever with unknown origin" and because his white blood cell count was so outrageously high he was fighting off some sort of infection ... he just didn't know what.
After we got settled in and Kelty was resting quietly Al stayed with Kelty while I ran home to shower and take a nap. I returned to the hospital at 4am so Al could take his turn ... it was rough night of sleep for all of us. By morning Kelty's fever had broken. The medical staff continued to monitor Kelty throughout the day and felt comfortable discharging Kelty Saturday late afternoon/early evening. Kelty received a 2nd shot of Rocephin and was also started on Tamiflu. The doctor found a raging ear infection in Kelty's right ear Saturday afternoon which he said could have been the reason for the high white blood cell count even though they didn't see the ear infection on Friday. Either way, we have to have blood work done again on Monday in hopes that the culprit of the 33,000 white blood cell count was indeed the ear infection ... let's hope! We're also waiting on a few cultures to come back to determine if the mystery infection was bacterial or viral.
To wrap it up ... Kelty is home and back to his happy and active self! It's so wonderful to have our little boy back! I'm pretty certain he's going to have some issues with going back to the clinic and seeing any doctor ... during our stay at the hospital any time there was a shadow outside our door Kelty would shake his head "no" and start to whimper ... anytime someone in scrubs tried to enter the room he would bury his face and start to cry. My next trip to the toy store will be for a "doctors kit" ... I'm hoping to break this fear that he's developing ... but who could fault him for being scared!
Settled into his bed ... he was so flushed!
Poor little guy had so many little monitors stuck to him. One monitor was taped around his big toe and it glowed red ... we kept a sock on that foot. He was not a fan of his "rudolph" toe.
Safe with daddy
Kelty had his 2-year appointment on Wednesday and had a perfect check-up. On Thursday afternoon I received a call from his school; Kelty had woken up from his nap screaming and with a fever of 103. I immediately picked him up, gave him a dose of Tylenol and brought him home. He was pretty pooped the rest of the day and fell asleep at 6:30pm ... still with a fever. It was a pretty rough night; I slept on the floor next to his bed ... we rotated between rocking in his chair and sleeping restlessly in his bed. He continued to run a fever throughout the night and kept touching his head and neck when I asked him what hurt. I called the clinic when they opened and was able to get Kelty in to see the doc Friday morning.
He was running a fever of 102.3 when we checked-in ... with no other symptoms ... not a sniffle, not a cough, not a sneeze, nothing but a fever and something hurting in his head/neck. As usual Kelty screamed during his check-up with the doctor and as a result started having a snotty nose. The doctor continued to question "other symptoms" ... I insisted he had no other symptoms. He questioned the runny nose and I told him it was a because he was crying. He seemed skeptical and told me if that was the case then he would have to run a full work-up on Kelty ... otherwise he just has a cold. I insisted that he had no other symptoms and we proceeded with a morning/early afternoon of unpleasant procedures for Kelty ... and for mommy.
We had to collect a clean urine sample and unfortunately it had to be done via catheter ... following the catheter was blood work. I spent the morning/afternoon holding Kelty down for these procedures ... it was horrible and made me sick to my stomach to see Kelty put through this.
We headed back to the clinic waiting room where Kelty stayed curled up in my lap, lethargic and still with a fever. After 1-hour the doc came to get us and apologized for the wait ... the lab had to re-run the blood sample 3 times because the results showed a white blood cell count of 33,000; the norm is 5,000 - 15,000. The doc told me "I was right" ... there is some sort of infection and it's not a cold. With Kelty's lethargic behavior, pain in the head/neck and the high white blood cell count of 33,000 ... the doc was speculating that it could be meningitis. He gave Kelty a shot of Rocephin (a really strong antibiotic) and made arrangements for us to head over to Landshtul Regional Medical Center for a lumbar puncture.
As I was leaving the clinic parking lot, Al called ... his flight was canceled due to weather and he was on his way to the clinic. He drove up as I was pulling out ... perfect timing. We carpooled over the the hospital and I filled him in on the days events.
After arriving at the hospital the doc decided to hold off on the lumbar puncture ... it's a very painful procedure and since Kelty was acting a little feisty with the medical staff he wasn't certain it was meningitis ... he speculated that if it were meningitis he would be too lethargic to "fight back". He admitted Kelty to the pediatric unit for monitoring with a diagnosis of a "fever with unknown origin" and because his white blood cell count was so outrageously high he was fighting off some sort of infection ... he just didn't know what.
After we got settled in and Kelty was resting quietly Al stayed with Kelty while I ran home to shower and take a nap. I returned to the hospital at 4am so Al could take his turn ... it was rough night of sleep for all of us. By morning Kelty's fever had broken. The medical staff continued to monitor Kelty throughout the day and felt comfortable discharging Kelty Saturday late afternoon/early evening. Kelty received a 2nd shot of Rocephin and was also started on Tamiflu. The doctor found a raging ear infection in Kelty's right ear Saturday afternoon which he said could have been the reason for the high white blood cell count even though they didn't see the ear infection on Friday. Either way, we have to have blood work done again on Monday in hopes that the culprit of the 33,000 white blood cell count was indeed the ear infection ... let's hope! We're also waiting on a few cultures to come back to determine if the mystery infection was bacterial or viral.
To wrap it up ... Kelty is home and back to his happy and active self! It's so wonderful to have our little boy back! I'm pretty certain he's going to have some issues with going back to the clinic and seeing any doctor ... during our stay at the hospital any time there was a shadow outside our door Kelty would shake his head "no" and start to whimper ... anytime someone in scrubs tried to enter the room he would bury his face and start to cry. My next trip to the toy store will be for a "doctors kit" ... I'm hoping to break this fear that he's developing ... but who could fault him for being scared!
Settled into his bed ... he was so flushed!
Poor little guy had so many little monitors stuck to him. One monitor was taped around his big toe and it glowed red ... we kept a sock on that foot. He was not a fan of his "rudolph" toe.
Safe with daddyMonday, December 7, 2009
Two!
Kelty turned the big "2" on Friday! As I mentioned in my previous post, Al was put on a 3-day trip to Spain which would have taken him out-of-town on Kelty's birthday ... Al was able to get approval for Kelty and I to fly "space-available" with him. Since Al was not flying the leg from Ramstein to Rota, Spain we were able to fly along on the C-21 without breaking any regulations! We celebrated Kelty's birthday on Thursday night and spent his "real" birthday walking the streets of Seville, Spain .... but we'll touch on that in the next post ... this post is just for Kelty! :o)
Thursday proceeded as a normal day for Kelty until Al came home around 4:30pm. While Al played with Kelty upstairs I set-up his gifts and cake ... a few minutes later we (Aunt Susie, Uncle Mike, Al and I) welcomed Kelty downstairs to open presents and eat cake. Kelty made a straight shot for the balloons that Al brought home ... he was so excited about the dang balloons we had to distract him to open gifts!
Kelty's Radio Flyer Wagon filled with presents from the family
Kelty sporting the "2" shirt I appliqued .... Al wouldn't let me make coordinating striped pants like I did for his 1st Birthday!
Opening his gifts using his tools from Mimi and Papa
His little box of weapons ... I mean ... tools! So far we've only had to hide the hammer.
Kelty's laptop from Aunt Rachel and Uncle Shawn!
Deeply focused on his cake ...
Same as last year ... Kelty would not touch the cake with his fingers ... only a fork. This is not my fault! :o) Kelty accidentally got some frosting on his hands and he would not continue eating until we wiped it off ....
Apparently the arm does not count ...
I made Kelty a layered rainbow cake!
Thursday proceeded as a normal day for Kelty until Al came home around 4:30pm. While Al played with Kelty upstairs I set-up his gifts and cake ... a few minutes later we (Aunt Susie, Uncle Mike, Al and I) welcomed Kelty downstairs to open presents and eat cake. Kelty made a straight shot for the balloons that Al brought home ... he was so excited about the dang balloons we had to distract him to open gifts!
Kelty's Radio Flyer Wagon filled with presents from the family
Kelty sporting the "2" shirt I appliqued .... Al wouldn't let me make coordinating striped pants like I did for his 1st Birthday!
Opening his gifts using his tools from Mimi and Papa
His little box of weapons ... I mean ... tools! So far we've only had to hide the hammer.
Kelty's laptop from Aunt Rachel and Uncle Shawn!
Deeply focused on his cake ...
Same as last year ... Kelty would not touch the cake with his fingers ... only a fork. This is not my fault! :o) Kelty accidentally got some frosting on his hands and he would not continue eating until we wiped it off ....
Apparently the arm does not count ...
I made Kelty a layered rainbow cake!Thank-you family and friends for the birthday wishes you sent Kelty!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Happy Birthday Kelty!
It's Kelty's 2nd Birthday today!!!!
It's 5am and we are headed out the door for a weekend in Spain. Al was put on a 3-day trip and we decided to go as a family so we could be together on Kelty's big day. We celebrated Kelty's birthday last night ... thanks everyone for the AWESOME gifts! I'll share pictures and stories of our day after we return on Sunday night.
It's 5am and we are headed out the door for a weekend in Spain. Al was put on a 3-day trip and we decided to go as a family so we could be together on Kelty's big day. We celebrated Kelty's birthday last night ... thanks everyone for the AWESOME gifts! I'll share pictures and stories of our day after we return on Sunday night.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Ummm ....
So far behind (again) in keeping up that I can't even come up with a suitable title! Ummm ... so here we go! Yabadoo, Christmas Markets, Schnitzel and Austria ... all for your reading and viewing pleasure condensed into one blog post!
When the weather outside is frightful and you have a toddler tired of being couped-up in the house ... take 'em to Yabadoo! It's an indoor playground!
Aunt Susie racing to the top of the canopy ... Kelty made it about a 1/4 of the way up.
Air hockey for the little ones ... Kelty held his own against his fierce competitor ... Daddy
Daddy and Kelty tumbling down the slide
It's Christmas Market season!!! I LOVE the Christmas season and I love shopping and I love food and well .... I LOVE the Christmas Markets in Europe! We hit our first market the weekend before Thanksgiving and we plan to hit A LOT more! Gluhwein (a hot mulled wine) is the drink of the season here ... and it's great!
Susie and I eating potato cakes with applesauce ... this made me think of the awesome German meal my mom made for G'pa Lutz several years ago. G'pa Lutz was born in Germany and moved to the U.S. when he was in his youth ... we found his citizenship papers after he passed away in April 2006 and realized he did not become a U.S. citizen until he was in his 40's. I wished I would have talked to him about it more.
More "Cooking with Evi"! Evi and Heinz came over and made homemade pork schnitzel in our kitchen! It was WONDERFUL! As always, we had a really nice evening with them. Oh! We also introduced Evi and Heinz to a traditional "American" dessert ... the good 'ole Root Beer Float. Neither of them had heard of or tasted a Root Beer Float so we were quite excited to share one of our traditional drinks/desserts.
Austria! We spent our Thanksgiving weekend skiing and snowboarding in the Austrian Alps! The Stubai Glacier in particular. It was beautiful and breathtaking ... I can cross that of off our "Bucket List" now (though we are planning to ski/board in the alps frequently). We stayed just outside of Innsbruck at Hotel Happy Stubai ... this hotel was amazing. They provided a sitting service for Kelty so we could spend a few hours skiing ... not to mention breakfast, lunch and dinner included in the hotel stay! The meals were AWESOME and they even prepared special meals for Mike to work around his food allergies. Our first night at dinner our designated waitress was concerned as to why Mike wasn't eating ... we explained his food allergies and then he went back to eating his "cold leftovers" we brought with us. The waitress came back again and asked if their was anything she could bring him ... we again said "no, but thank-you" ... then she came back a 3rd time and inquired exactly what his allergies were ... Mike pulled out the list (yes, it's quite an impressive list) ... she took it back to the chef ... then came back and said they will have special meals for him the rest of our stay! Whoa!
Oh ... did I mention the "nude" sauna ... and did I mention it was gender mixed? My favorite part was watching Al carry on a conversation with an older gentleman standing in the middle of the sauna (I am a mature adult ... I am not giggling ... nope, not giggling).
Riding the lift and bundled up!
I took it easy and snowbladed the first day. I re-injured my ankle a few days before we left and was actually back on crutches. I ditched the crutches for the trip but kept my ankle wrapped. My ski boots and snowboard boots kept my ankle really secure. :o)
My hot snowboarder of a husband!
Taking a break and finding a photo op
Cloud layer at the top of the mountain!
Kelty's "mannequin pose". A few weeks ago we were in a store and Kelty started running from mannequin to mannequin trying to imitate their pose ... it was hilarious! Now whenever we ask him for his "mannequin pose" this is what we get! :o) We took this picture outside our hotel. No snow on the ground yet ... just on the mountain!
I can't get enough of this landscape! Green hills and snow-capped mountains!
Mike and Sue. We hit the Christmas Market in Innsbruck both evenings. We took a horse-drawn buggy ride through the Altstadt (old city). We were wrapped in blankets and sipping Gluhwein (technically it was Sue's ... but we were sharing).
Nice little photo op of the entrance to the market.
When the weather outside is frightful and you have a toddler tired of being couped-up in the house ... take 'em to Yabadoo! It's an indoor playground!
Aunt Susie racing to the top of the canopy ... Kelty made it about a 1/4 of the way up.
Air hockey for the little ones ... Kelty held his own against his fierce competitor ... Daddy
Daddy and Kelty tumbling down the slideIt's Christmas Market season!!! I LOVE the Christmas season and I love shopping and I love food and well .... I LOVE the Christmas Markets in Europe! We hit our first market the weekend before Thanksgiving and we plan to hit A LOT more! Gluhwein (a hot mulled wine) is the drink of the season here ... and it's great!
Susie and I eating potato cakes with applesauce ... this made me think of the awesome German meal my mom made for G'pa Lutz several years ago. G'pa Lutz was born in Germany and moved to the U.S. when he was in his youth ... we found his citizenship papers after he passed away in April 2006 and realized he did not become a U.S. citizen until he was in his 40's. I wished I would have talked to him about it more.
More "Cooking with Evi"! Evi and Heinz came over and made homemade pork schnitzel in our kitchen! It was WONDERFUL! As always, we had a really nice evening with them. Oh! We also introduced Evi and Heinz to a traditional "American" dessert ... the good 'ole Root Beer Float. Neither of them had heard of or tasted a Root Beer Float so we were quite excited to share one of our traditional drinks/desserts.Austria! We spent our Thanksgiving weekend skiing and snowboarding in the Austrian Alps! The Stubai Glacier in particular. It was beautiful and breathtaking ... I can cross that of off our "Bucket List" now (though we are planning to ski/board in the alps frequently). We stayed just outside of Innsbruck at Hotel Happy Stubai ... this hotel was amazing. They provided a sitting service for Kelty so we could spend a few hours skiing ... not to mention breakfast, lunch and dinner included in the hotel stay! The meals were AWESOME and they even prepared special meals for Mike to work around his food allergies. Our first night at dinner our designated waitress was concerned as to why Mike wasn't eating ... we explained his food allergies and then he went back to eating his "cold leftovers" we brought with us. The waitress came back again and asked if their was anything she could bring him ... we again said "no, but thank-you" ... then she came back a 3rd time and inquired exactly what his allergies were ... Mike pulled out the list (yes, it's quite an impressive list) ... she took it back to the chef ... then came back and said they will have special meals for him the rest of our stay! Whoa!
Oh ... did I mention the "nude" sauna ... and did I mention it was gender mixed? My favorite part was watching Al carry on a conversation with an older gentleman standing in the middle of the sauna (I am a mature adult ... I am not giggling ... nope, not giggling).
Riding the lift and bundled up!
I took it easy and snowbladed the first day. I re-injured my ankle a few days before we left and was actually back on crutches. I ditched the crutches for the trip but kept my ankle wrapped. My ski boots and snowboard boots kept my ankle really secure. :o)
My hot snowboarder of a husband!
Taking a break and finding a photo op
Cloud layer at the top of the mountain!
Kelty's "mannequin pose". A few weeks ago we were in a store and Kelty started running from mannequin to mannequin trying to imitate their pose ... it was hilarious! Now whenever we ask him for his "mannequin pose" this is what we get! :o) We took this picture outside our hotel. No snow on the ground yet ... just on the mountain!
I can't get enough of this landscape! Green hills and snow-capped mountains!
Mike and Sue. We hit the Christmas Market in Innsbruck both evenings. We took a horse-drawn buggy ride through the Altstadt (old city). We were wrapped in blankets and sipping Gluhwein (technically it was Sue's ... but we were sharing).
Nice little photo op of the entrance to the market.Monday, November 23, 2009
Cooking with Evi
I've said it before and I'll say it again ... we are once again blessed with AMAZING neighbors! Everyplace we've lived in our 12 years as a military family we've made long-lasting friendships with our neighbors. Our German neighbors here have taken the time to share with us their German traditions and way of living. I've mentioned to Evi that I was interested in learning to cook authentic German meals ... and it so happens that Evi is a WONDERFUL cook and is eager to share her recipes. Last week Evi and Heinz invited Susie (my sister-in-law) and I over to cook homemade potato soup. Al, Mike and Kelty joined us about an hour later and we all enjoyed potato soup, knockwurst and bread .. and of course a sampling of liqueur, beer and wine. We wrapped up the meal with Lebkucken (a German holiday cookie/cake ... there is no English translation) and expresso.
Susie and Evi prepping the carrots, potato's, leeks and celery root
Evi stirring the potato soup
My turn to stir (I need to start wearing more make-up!)
Heinz's contribution ... cutting the bread. It's pretty common to own your own bread-slicer and slice the bread you buy at the bakery. Our house had one built-in that used to pull out from a bottom cabinet .... we temporarily took it out ... a toddler + circular blade = danger
Heinz shared with us that in Fall/Winter you traditionally eat knockwurst with potato soup and in the Spring/Summer you eat a plum bread with the potato soup!
Lebkuchen! Heinz pulled out the Lebkuchen and said "You know Lebkuchen?" After the astonishment of not knowing what Lebkuchen was, Heinz told us about it. Lebkuchen is made and eaten only during the holiday season ... it's a German dessert cake/cookie. The best way to describe it ... a spiced cookie that more like the consistency of a dense cake. It tastes like a mix of spice cookie and fruit cake. There is a variety of ways to coat it or even not to coat the exterior. The underside of the Lebkuchen has a wafer type bottom. Totally confused? :o)
Tomorrow night Evi is teaching us how to make Schnitzel!
Susie and Evi prepping the carrots, potato's, leeks and celery root
Evi stirring the potato soup
My turn to stir (I need to start wearing more make-up!)
Heinz's contribution ... cutting the bread. It's pretty common to own your own bread-slicer and slice the bread you buy at the bakery. Our house had one built-in that used to pull out from a bottom cabinet .... we temporarily took it out ... a toddler + circular blade = danger
Heinz shared with us that in Fall/Winter you traditionally eat knockwurst with potato soup and in the Spring/Summer you eat a plum bread with the potato soup!
Lebkuchen! Heinz pulled out the Lebkuchen and said "You know Lebkuchen?" After the astonishment of not knowing what Lebkuchen was, Heinz told us about it. Lebkuchen is made and eaten only during the holiday season ... it's a German dessert cake/cookie. The best way to describe it ... a spiced cookie that more like the consistency of a dense cake. It tastes like a mix of spice cookie and fruit cake. There is a variety of ways to coat it or even not to coat the exterior. The underside of the Lebkuchen has a wafer type bottom. Totally confused? :o)Tomorrow night Evi is teaching us how to make Schnitzel!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Paris "Take 2" + Bonus Material
We had a 3-day weekend last weekend so we decided to head back to Paris with Mike and Sue. Poor Mike and Sue got the crash course in "vacationing with a toddler" ... Kelty actually did well; still not a fan of the museums but there was plenty to see and do while walking the streets of Paris.
I have to say this trip was really different than our first trip to Paris. We had a lot of "events" to laugh (and cringe) about ...
1) The parking garage we used for the car was literally a big port-a-potty, ugh, who the heck uses a parking space to drop a load! We had to step over puddles of pee to carry our suitcases through the parking garage stairwell.
2) We happened to pick the nastiest subway car to ride one evening, some dude decided to clear his throat and nasal passages on the floor of the subway car earlier that evening and Kelty so kindly grabbed a pole that was lubricated in spit.
3) Some dude coughed all over Mikey's head in the subway. He literally hosed Mikey's head with spray. Ahhhh!
4) Mikey made a buddy while in line to ride the elevator up the Eiffel Tower. This guy was so far up in Mikey's business that they looked like they were attached. As you can see ... Mikey made quite the impression on the Paris follks. Ha!
Time for photo's ...
Day 1
We left Saturday late-morning for the 4 1/2 car trip to Paris. After arriving around 4-ish, checking into our hotel (which was inexpensive and nice ... minus the port-a-potty parking garage) we took the subway to the Louvre. The Louvre at night, glowing against the night sky is nothing short of amazing. Add in a musician playing the cello in one of the exterior corridors and have the soft echo follow you during your stroll .... sigh .... is a memory I never want to lose.
After the Louvre we took and evening walk to the Eiffel Tower ... it was a looooong walk (not good for my ankle) but it was worth it. Before jumping in line for Eiffel we ate Crepes and took Kelty on a carousel ride.
Our token "kissing photo" ... this is in the courtyard of the Louvre.
Mike and Al looking through windows of Louvre
Our walk to to the Eiffel Tower
Mmmm .... Crepes!
Day 2
We attempted the Louvre again with Kelty. We made it through the Egyptian wing before Al and I called it quits and left Mike and Sue to explore the Louvre in peace. After Kelty's nap we all ventured out again, visited Notre Dame and then spent the evening walking an exploring.
I missed the shot of Kelty imitating the placement of the arms in the carving
Notre Dame
Al said this shop was in the movie Ratatouille ... this shop apparently specializes in killing rats. The rats hanging in the shop window were real (taxidermy rats).
Day 3
We had to leave by noon on Monday ... Al had to get home so he could go to work and mission plan for a last minute flight the squadron put him on. Nice .... thanks! Mike and Sue took us to two specific places on Monday morning ... La Boutique Maille (a specialty mustard shop) and Les Palais Des Thes (a loose- leaf tea shop). The tea shop was much like TeaVana and I was able to re-stock my Roobios and Chai tea's. The mustard shop was awesome! They even had specialty mustard on tap. We brought home some great mustards that I'm anxious to start using ... maybe they'll make into my "Cooking" section.
Kelty "modeling" in front of the store window next to the mustard shop.
I have to say this trip was really different than our first trip to Paris. We had a lot of "events" to laugh (and cringe) about ...
1) The parking garage we used for the car was literally a big port-a-potty, ugh, who the heck uses a parking space to drop a load! We had to step over puddles of pee to carry our suitcases through the parking garage stairwell.
2) We happened to pick the nastiest subway car to ride one evening, some dude decided to clear his throat and nasal passages on the floor of the subway car earlier that evening and Kelty so kindly grabbed a pole that was lubricated in spit.
3) Some dude coughed all over Mikey's head in the subway. He literally hosed Mikey's head with spray. Ahhhh!
4) Mikey made a buddy while in line to ride the elevator up the Eiffel Tower. This guy was so far up in Mikey's business that they looked like they were attached. As you can see ... Mikey made quite the impression on the Paris follks. Ha!
Time for photo's ...
Day 1
We left Saturday late-morning for the 4 1/2 car trip to Paris. After arriving around 4-ish, checking into our hotel (which was inexpensive and nice ... minus the port-a-potty parking garage) we took the subway to the Louvre. The Louvre at night, glowing against the night sky is nothing short of amazing. Add in a musician playing the cello in one of the exterior corridors and have the soft echo follow you during your stroll .... sigh .... is a memory I never want to lose.
After the Louvre we took and evening walk to the Eiffel Tower ... it was a looooong walk (not good for my ankle) but it was worth it. Before jumping in line for Eiffel we ate Crepes and took Kelty on a carousel ride.
Our token "kissing photo" ... this is in the courtyard of the Louvre.
Mike and Al looking through windows of Louvre
Our walk to to the Eiffel Tower
Mmmm .... Crepes!Day 2
We attempted the Louvre again with Kelty. We made it through the Egyptian wing before Al and I called it quits and left Mike and Sue to explore the Louvre in peace. After Kelty's nap we all ventured out again, visited Notre Dame and then spent the evening walking an exploring.
I missed the shot of Kelty imitating the placement of the arms in the carving
Notre Dame
Al said this shop was in the movie Ratatouille ... this shop apparently specializes in killing rats. The rats hanging in the shop window were real (taxidermy rats).Day 3
We had to leave by noon on Monday ... Al had to get home so he could go to work and mission plan for a last minute flight the squadron put him on. Nice .... thanks! Mike and Sue took us to two specific places on Monday morning ... La Boutique Maille (a specialty mustard shop) and Les Palais Des Thes (a loose- leaf tea shop). The tea shop was much like TeaVana and I was able to re-stock my Roobios and Chai tea's. The mustard shop was awesome! They even had specialty mustard on tap. We brought home some great mustards that I'm anxious to start using ... maybe they'll make into my "Cooking" section.
Kelty "modeling" in front of the store window next to the mustard shop.Sunday, November 8, 2009
Seriously ...
Whoa, seriously ... don't even know where to begin! Might as well jump to the pictures and fill in the blanks along the way!
The weekend prior to Halloween we took Kelty to the Sunshine Pumpkin Farm to pick out a few pumpkins (which are still sitting in my kitchen .... untouched!) I had big plans for those pumpkins! O'well, the best part about pumpkin picking was watching Kelty run through the pumpkin patch anyway!
Apparently the proper way to pick a good pumpkin is to sit on it .... he literally ran from pumpkin to pumpkin and sat ... and ran ... and sat ... and ran ...
Picking a good pumpkin with daddy
Al's brother Mike and his wife Susie arrived the 30th ... they will be here through Christmas! Susie has been a HUGE help and was able to watch Kelty while I've working at the base. Kelty totally digs Mike and Sue ... I think he spends a lot of time showing off for them. Thankfully I am done with my 2-weeks of full-time work and am back to just a Tue/Thur schedule. I'll touch on that in a later post.
Anyway ... so Halloween came and went. We met up with our friends, the Wagner's (same family we went o Zurich with), and let the kiddo's trick-or-treat on base together. We started off the evening "trunk-or-treating" ... the base set-up a huge movie screen in the middle of the soccer field and people parked and decorated the trunks of their cars ... the kids were able to walk from "trunk" to "trunk" and get candy ... cute concept! After our warm-up of trunk-or-treating we walked to one of the nearby neighborhoods for a little traditional trick-or-treating. Kelty had an absolute blast running around with his little buddies and collecting candy. It was hard to keep up with him ... base housing was PACKED with trick-or-treaters and Kelty just wanted to run and weave through all the chaos.
Daddy and our little Cookie Monster
I had to work all day Saturday (ugh) ... I had just enough time to walk in the house, go directly to my craft room and sew Kelty his "Cookie" trick-or- treat bag. He was so cute filling up his cookie bag. This was his first piece of Halloween candy.
While trick-or-treating we passed by a little park ... the kids were hilarious on this rocker ... I have never heard Kelty laugh so long and so hard! I have a video but I've all but given up on loading video's lately ... I'll have to try again soon.
We arrived back home around 7:30 and our neighbors really wanted to see Kelty ... Al, Kelty, Mike, Sue and I made our way over to our neighbors and ended up drinking coffee, eating cake and chasing it all with a few glasses of wine ... all the while Kelty was stuffing his face with little gummy bears. Our German neighbors are AWESOME!
On Sunday, we decided to head over to St. Martin and walk through the vineyards ... hoping to enjoy it before all the grapes were harvested. Unfortunately the grapes were gone but the vineyards in their autumn splendor were gorgeous!
So ... with my work schedule I really don't have any photos of Kelty during the week ... crazy! Apparently Kelty felt he needed to make up for my slack and walked around with our digital camera and snapped a few pictures the other night ....
They didn't all turn so clear (or centered) but he did a great job with this little snapshot of Aunt Susie!
He even took a picture of mommy .... usually I'm the one on the other side of the camera!
The weekend prior to Halloween we took Kelty to the Sunshine Pumpkin Farm to pick out a few pumpkins (which are still sitting in my kitchen .... untouched!) I had big plans for those pumpkins! O'well, the best part about pumpkin picking was watching Kelty run through the pumpkin patch anyway!
Apparently the proper way to pick a good pumpkin is to sit on it .... he literally ran from pumpkin to pumpkin and sat ... and ran ... and sat ... and ran ...
Picking a good pumpkin with daddyAl's brother Mike and his wife Susie arrived the 30th ... they will be here through Christmas! Susie has been a HUGE help and was able to watch Kelty while I've working at the base. Kelty totally digs Mike and Sue ... I think he spends a lot of time showing off for them. Thankfully I am done with my 2-weeks of full-time work and am back to just a Tue/Thur schedule. I'll touch on that in a later post.
Anyway ... so Halloween came and went. We met up with our friends, the Wagner's (same family we went o Zurich with), and let the kiddo's trick-or-treat on base together. We started off the evening "trunk-or-treating" ... the base set-up a huge movie screen in the middle of the soccer field and people parked and decorated the trunks of their cars ... the kids were able to walk from "trunk" to "trunk" and get candy ... cute concept! After our warm-up of trunk-or-treating we walked to one of the nearby neighborhoods for a little traditional trick-or-treating. Kelty had an absolute blast running around with his little buddies and collecting candy. It was hard to keep up with him ... base housing was PACKED with trick-or-treaters and Kelty just wanted to run and weave through all the chaos.
Daddy and our little Cookie Monster
I had to work all day Saturday (ugh) ... I had just enough time to walk in the house, go directly to my craft room and sew Kelty his "Cookie" trick-or- treat bag. He was so cute filling up his cookie bag. This was his first piece of Halloween candy.
While trick-or-treating we passed by a little park ... the kids were hilarious on this rocker ... I have never heard Kelty laugh so long and so hard! I have a video but I've all but given up on loading video's lately ... I'll have to try again soon.We arrived back home around 7:30 and our neighbors really wanted to see Kelty ... Al, Kelty, Mike, Sue and I made our way over to our neighbors and ended up drinking coffee, eating cake and chasing it all with a few glasses of wine ... all the while Kelty was stuffing his face with little gummy bears. Our German neighbors are AWESOME!
On Sunday, we decided to head over to St. Martin and walk through the vineyards ... hoping to enjoy it before all the grapes were harvested. Unfortunately the grapes were gone but the vineyards in their autumn splendor were gorgeous!
So ... with my work schedule I really don't have any photos of Kelty during the week ... crazy! Apparently Kelty felt he needed to make up for my slack and walked around with our digital camera and snapped a few pictures the other night ....
They didn't all turn so clear (or centered) but he did a great job with this little snapshot of Aunt Susie!
He even took a picture of mommy .... usually I'm the one on the other side of the camera!Sunday, November 1, 2009
Soon!
Hang in there ... update coming soon ... hopefully tomorrow night! I pulled a 6-day work week (ugh) and spent part of my day off doing volunteer work. Oh ... and I ran "eye" first into a rolladen this evening ... we'll see what my face and eye look like tomorrow! Yikes!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Bit of A Mess
I'm going to be doing some tweaking to the blog over the next couple of days so it may be little messy until I have it figured out. Currently each of my tabs are linked to a new blog ... I am essentially maintaining 5 blogs. The reason I wanted it this way initially is so that I could customize the right-sided column to be themed for each page ... I have since decided that as my blog grows with posts, it's just going to be too hard to manage. Instead I'm making the tabs link to labels instead of new blog pages ... essentially you won't even know the difference when I'm done, except the the left and right columns will mirror each other on every page ... just the blog post content will be customized like it is now. Wish me luck!
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